KR20120005979A - How to Track Electronic Devices and Displayed Information - Google Patents

Abstract

The method of the present invention comprises the steps of displaying a first segment of information in a first format on a display of an electronic device, tracing previously displayed information for a predetermined period of time as tracing information; Displaying the tracking information in a second format when later displayed during scrolling.

Description

How to Track Electronic Devices and Displayed Information {ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF TRACKING DISPLAYED INFORMATION}

The present invention relates to an electronic device, including but not limited to a touch-sensitive display and a portable electronic device having control of the display.

Electronic devices, including portable electronic devices, have come into widespread use and can provide a variety of functions, including, for example, telephone, electronic messaging, and other personal information manager (PIM) application functions. Portable electronic devices include many types of devices, including simple cellular phones, smartphones, wireless PDAs, and mobile stations such as laptop computers with wireless 802.11 or Bluetooth capabilities.

Portable electronic devices such as PDAs or smartphones are generally intended for handheld use and ease of portability. Smaller devices are generally preferred for portability. Touch-sensitive displays, also known as touchscreen displays, are particularly useful for handheld devices that are small and have limited space for user input and output. The information displayed on the touch-sensitive display can be modified according to the function and operation being performed. With regard to the continuing demand for reducing the size of portable electronic devices, touch-sensitive displays continue to shrink in size.

Improvements in electronic devices are desirable.

The method of the invention comprises displaying a first information segment in a first format on a display of an electronic device, tracking previously displayed information for a predetermined time period as tracking information, and displaying any tracking information behind it. When present, displaying the tracking information in a second format. The portable electronic device tracks previously displayed information for a predetermined period of time as a tracking information operatively coupled to the display, a memory, and the display, the information segment being displayed in a first format, and any information previously displayed is And when displayed during scrolling, includes a processor configured to display tracking information in a second format.

According to the invention, it is possible to improve the method and the electronic device for tracking the displayed information.

1 is a block diagram of a portable electronic device according to the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a portable electronic device according to the present invention.
3, 4 and 5 show examples of electronic devices during the display of information according to the invention.

The following steps include displaying the first information segment in a first format on the electronic device and on the display of the electronic device, tracing previously displayed information for a predetermined time period as tracking information, and any tracking information followed by A method is described that includes displaying this tracking information in a second format when displayed.

For simplicity and clarity of explanation, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. Embodiments may be practiced without these details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments described herein. The description should not be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein.

The present application relates generally to electronic devices and to portable electronic devices in the embodiments described herein. Examples of portable electronic devices include mobile or handheld, wireless communication devices such as pagers, cellular phones, cellular smartphones, wireless organizers, PDAs, wireless-enabled notebook computers, and the like. The portable electronic device may also be a portable electronic device that does not have wireless communication capabilities, such as a handheld electronic game device, digital photo album, digital camera, or other device.

A block diagram of an example of a portable electronic device 100 is shown in FIG. 1. The portable electronic device 100 includes a number of components, such as a processor 102 that controls the overall operation of the portable electronic device 100. Communication functions, including data and voice communications, are performed through the communication subsystem 104. Data received by the portable electronic device 100 is decompressed and decrypted by the decoder 106. Communication subsystem 104 receives a message from wireless network 150 and sends a message to wireless network 150. The wireless network 150 may be any type of wireless network, including but not limited to a data wireless network, a voice wireless network, and a network supporting both voice and data communications. The portable electronic device 100 is powered by a power source 142, such as one or more rechargeable batteries or ports to external power sources.

The processor 102 also has a display with a touch-sensitive overlay 114 operably connected to an electronic controller 116 that together form a RAM 108, a memory 110, and a touch-sensitive display 118. (112), one or more actuators 120, one or more force sensors 122, auxiliary input / output (I / O) subsystem 124, data ports 126, speakers 128, microphones 130, short range communication Interact with other components such as subsystem 132 and other device subsystems 134. User interaction using the graphical user interface is performed via the touch sensitive overlay 114. Processor 102 interacts with touch-sensitive overlay 114 through electronic controller 116. Information such as text, characters, symbols, images, icons, and other items that can be displayed and rendered on the portable electronic device is displayed on the touch-sensitive display 118 through the processor 102. The processor 102 may interact with the accelerometer 136, which may be utilized to detect the direction of gravity or the direction of reaction force caused by gravity.

In order to identify the subscriber for the network connection, the portable electronic device 100 uses a Subscriber Identity Module / Removable User Identity Module (SIM / RUIM) card 138 (subscriber identity module) to communicate with a network, such as the wireless network 150. Or a removable user identity module card). Alternatively, user identification information can be programmed into memory 110.

The portable electronic device 100 includes an operating system 146 and a software program or component 148 executed by the processor 102 and typically stored in a permanent, updateable storage, such as the memory 110. Additional applications or programs may be carried over the wireless network 150, auxiliary I / O subsystem 124, data port 126, short-range communication subsystem 132, or any other suitable subsystem 134. It may be loaded onto device 100.

Received signals, such as text messages, e-mail messages, or web page downloads, are processed by communication subsystem 104 and entered into processor 102. Processor 102 processes the received signal for output to display 112 and / or secondary I / O subsystem 124. The subscriber may generate data items, such as, for example, email messages that may be transmitted over the wireless network 150 via the communication subsystem 104. For voice communication, the overall operation of the portable electronic device 100 is similar. The speaker 128 outputs audible information converted from the electric signal, and the microphone 130 converts the audible information into an electric signal for processing.

The touch sensitive display 118 may be any type of capacitive, resistive, infrared, surface acoustic wave (SAW) touch sensitive display, strain gauge, optical imaging, distributed signal technology, acoustic pulse recognition, and the like, well known in the art. May be a suitable touch-sensitive display. The capacitive touch sensitive display includes a capacitive touch sensitive overlay 114. This overlay 114 may be, for example, an assembly of multiple layers in a stack including a substrate, ground shield layer, barrier layer, one or more capacitive touch sensor layers separated by a substrate or other barrier, and a cover. The capacitive touch sensor layer can be any suitable material, such as patterned indium tin oxide (ITO).

One or more touches, also known as touch touches or touch events, may be detected by the touch-sensitive display 118. The processor 102 may determine attributes of the touch, including the location of the touch. The touch location data may include a single contact point, such as a contact area or a center point of or near the center of the contact area. The signal is provided to the controller 116 in response to the detection of the touch. The touch may be detected from any suitable object, such as a finger, thumb, adjunct, or other items such as, for example, a stylus, pen, or other pointer, depending on the nature of the touch-sensitive display 118. Controller 116 and / or processor 102 may detect a touch by any suitable contact member on touch-sensitive display 118. Multiple simultaneous touches can be detected.

    One or more gestures may also be detected by the touch-sensitive display 120. A swipe-like gesture, starting at the origin, also known as the flick, and continuing to the end point is a particular type of touch on the touch-sensitive display 118. The gesture may be long or short in duration and / or duration. Two points of the gesture can be used to determine a vector describing the direction of the gesture.

Actuator 120 may be depressurized by applying sufficient force to touch-sensitive display 118 to overcome its operating force. Actuator 120 may be actuated by pressing anywhere on touch-sensitive display 118. Actuator 120 may provide input to processor 102 when actuator 120 is actuated. Operation of actuator 120 may cause the provision of tactile feedback. When a force is applied, the touch sensitive display 118 is pressure sensitive, rotatable, or removable.

A flow diagram illustrating a method of controlling an electronic device, such as portable electronic device 100, is shown in FIG. 2. This method may be performed by software such as, for example, an application stored in memory and executed by the processor 102. Coding of software to perform this method is within the scope of those skilled in the art, given the present description. Computer-readable code executed by at least one processor of the portable electronic device to perform this method may be stored on a computer-readable medium. This method may include additional or fewer procedures than those shown and / or described, and may be performed in a different order.

The information segment is displayed in an initial format on the touch-sensitive display 118 of the portable electronic device 100 (step 202). This information may be information from an application such as a web browser, contact, email, calendar, music player, spreadsheet, word processing, operating system interface, and the like. This information may be updated several times, and the display of this information may continue. When the display time of the information segment is at least equal to the predetermined time period, the information segment is identified as the tracking information and then displayed in the alternate format. When the information segment is displayed in step 202, even when the duration of the display of the information segment is for at least a predetermined time period, no information is still tracked and no information is displayed in the alternate format.

The duration of time at which the information segment is displayed may be compared to a predetermined time period, referred to as a threshold (step 204). This threshold may be any suitable threshold. When the duration of time is greater than or equal to this threshold, the duration of time meets the threshold. This threshold may be, for example, a period of time sufficient to read or scan the entire screen information. The default value may be set, for example, from 1 to 3 seconds, and may be input via a menu by a user, for example, as a device parameter. Other methods, such as a timer, can be used when the information to be tracked is displayed long enough.

The indicated information segment is tracked (step 206). Information segments can be tracked in any suitable way to identify previously displayed information. For example, an information segment can be tracked by adding the information segment, or identifier of the information segment, to a repository of information or a list or identifier of information. Repositories and lists may be, for example, cumulative lists maintained to track previously displayed information for documents, web pages, emails, or other groups of information. The store or list may be maintained, for example, in local memory 110 to identify the tracking information for display in an alternate format when there is no scrolling, i.e. statically displayed, for subsequent display of the information or during scrolling. Can be.

When an indication change event occurs that changes the information segment to be displayed (step 208), the tracking information is displayed in an alternate format to identify any previous indication information (step 212). The alternate format is different from the format used for information not previously displayed, which refers to the initial format. Untracked information is displayed in the initial format, while tracked information is displayed in the alternate format. Display change events to change the displayed information segment include scrolling inputs or requests, page increments or decrements, or other inputs indicating different information segments, whether fast scrolling or slow scrolling.

The event can be a scrolling input that includes detecting a gesture on the touch-sensitive display 118. Alternatively, the scrolling input may be detected from, for example, a scroll wheel, an optical joystick, a navigation button or key, a trackball, or the like. The updated, new, or different information segment displayed in step 214 is in accordance with the range of scrolling determined based on the scrolling input received in step 210. The range of scrolling may depend on the length of the scrolling input over distance, the length of the scrolling input over time, the speed and ratio of the scrolling input, or the type of scrolling input received. For scrolling inputs received from the touch-sensitive display 118, for example, the range of scrolling may depend on the length of the gesture over distance, the length of the gesture over time, or the speed or rate of the gesture.

Scrolling may be smooth scrolling or may be implemented on a line-by-line basis, where one line of information appears to be erased at one end of the display 112 and the other line appears to be entered at the opposite end of the display 112. Scrolling may also be performed on a multi-line or page basis.

Tracking information is displayed in alternate format during scrolling. Optionally, when scrolling stops for a period of time or falls below the threshold of scrolling, the tracking information may first be displayed in an alternate format, after which the scrolling rate meets the threshold rate, e.g., the threshold rate. If greater than or equal to, it may be displayed in the initial format. The alternate format may be any suitable format for identifying previously marked segments or information segments. Examples of suitable alternative formats include highlighting, changing font color or grayscale, border bars adjacent to or near the information, border lines in the information, any other suitable format or combination of formats.

Examples of electronic devices displaying information are shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. In the example of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the portable electronic device 100 includes a touch-sensitive display 118, which displays information in an initial format for the email received at the portable electronic device 100. Used to. The amount of information contained in the email is greater than the amount of information that can be displayed on the display at one time. When the e-mail is opened, the information segments are displayed as shown in the first drawing in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, respectively.

The information segment displayed when the email is opened is shown at 302. The time period during which the information segment 302 is displayed is greater than the threshold, which may be, for example, two seconds. The information segment 302 is added to the tracking information so that the information segment 302 indicated in the first figure of FIG. 3 is identified when a scrolling input is received. A scrolling input is received that changes the information segment, and the information segment 302 added to the tracking information is displayed in an alternate format to identify the previously displayed information segment 302, which in this example is grayed out. Additional information segment 306 is displayed as shown in the second diagram of FIG. 3. In the example of FIG. 3, tracking information 302 is grayed out to identify a previously displayed information segment.

The time period during which the additional information segment 306 is displayed is greater than the predetermined time period, and the display of the tracking information in the alternate format 304 is stopped as shown in the third drawing of FIG.

Another example of an electronic device displaying information is shown in FIG. 4. The information segment 302 that is displayed when the email is opened is shown in the top left figure of FIG. 4. The time period over which information segment 302 is displayed is greater than the threshold. The information segment is added to the tracking information. The display change event and the information segment 302, such as a scrolling input is detected, are displayed in an alternate format to identify the information segment 302 during scrolling. The information is scrolled to another information segment 402 shown in the top right figure of FIG. Since information segment 402 does not contain tracking information, no portion of information segment 402 is represented in an alternate format.

The time period over which this information segment 402 is displayed is greater than a predetermined time or threshold. Information segment 402 is added to the tracking information.

A scrolling input is detected, which scrolls in a direction opposite to the previous scrolling direction. The tracking information is previously displayed and new information segments not previously displayed, including portions of the information segment 302 and portions of the information segment 402 shown at the bottom left of FIG. 4 during scrolling or while being displayed statically. 404 is indicated in an alternate format to identify it.

The time period during which the new information segment 404 is displayed is greater than the predetermined time period or threshold. The new information segment 404 is added to the tracking information. If scrolling stops for a certain period of time, for example for two to three seconds, the tracking information is displayed again in the initial format, as shown in the lower right figure of FIG. Another example of an electronic device while displaying information is shown in FIG. 5. The information segment 302 displayed when the email is opened is shown in the left figure of FIG. The time period over which information segment 302 is displayed is greater than a predetermined time period or threshold. Information segment 302 is added to the tracking information. Display change events such as scrolling inputs are detected. This information is scrolled to another information segment 306 shown in the right figure of FIG. Information segment 306 includes tracking information from information segment 302. In the example of FIG. 5, the alternate format includes a boundary bar 502 displayed on the right side of previously displayed information.

In the example described above, the displayed information includes the information of the email. For a few examples, information from other applications such as web browsers, word processors, and spreadsheet programs may be displayed. In addition, scrolling does not restrict scrolling up and down with respect to the direction of the displayed information. Scrolling may also include scrolling from left to right or right to left.

Control of the electronic device facilitates scrolling through the information by identifying previously displayed information as tracking information to distinguish previously displayed information from previously not displayed information. The identification of previously displayed information facilitates the speed and accuracy of navigation, such as scrolling through information that did not fit within the display of the electronic device at one time in time. Since the device uses time, power consumption is reduced.

This application may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential features. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. Therefore, the scope of the present application is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

100: portable electronic device 102: processor
104: communication subsystem 106: decoder
108: RAM 110: Memory
112: display 114: overlay
116: controller 118: touch-sensitive display
120: actuator 122: force sensor
124: Auxiliary I / O Subsystem 126: Data Port
128: speaker 130: microphone
132: short-range communication subsystem 134: other device subsystem
136: accelerometer 138: SIM / RUIM
142: power source 146: operating system
148: Program 150: Network

Claims (20)

As a method,
Displaying the first information segment in a first format on a display of the electronic device;
Tracking previously displayed information for a predetermined time period as tracking information;
When any of the tracking information is displayed thereafter, displaying the tracking information in a second format.
How to include. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking comprises identifying the first segment as previously displayed information. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the tracking information includes displaying at least a portion of the first segment in the second format. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking comprises identifying the first segment as tracking information and identifying a second segment displayed after displaying the first segment as tracking information. . 5. The method of claim 4, wherein displaying the tracking information comprises displaying the first segment and the second segment in the second format. The method of claim 1,
Displaying information other than the tracking information in the first format.
How to include more. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking comprises maintaining a cumulative list of tracking information for the document. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking information is displayed in the second format during the time period and in the first format after the time period. The method of claim 1,
Displaying the tracking information in the second format during at least one of scrolling and after scrolling stops
How to include more. The method of claim 1, wherein the second format includes a highlight. The method of claim 1, wherein the second format includes added boundary bars. A computer readable medium having computer readable code, the computer readable code executable by at least one processor of a portable electronic device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11. Computer readable media. As an electronic device,
A display for displaying information segments in a first format;
Memory;
Operatively coupled to the display and configured to track previously displayed information for a predetermined time period as tracking information, and to display the tracking information in a second format when any of the tracking information is subsequently displayed during scrolling. Processor
Electronic device comprising a. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein a tracking information segment is tracked by storing the tracking information. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to display information other than tracking information in a first format. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the processor maintains a cumulative list of tracking information for a document. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the tracking information is displayed in a second format during the time period and in the first format after the time period. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein after scrolling stops, the tracking information is displayed in the second format. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the second format comprises a highlight. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the second format includes an added boundary bar.

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